MSNBC story on visa delays

[BillT]

Check it out here...

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3720322/

[Bryan_Qunying]

Interesting article, But as usual, there were no information about the delays for K1 - K4. Maybe several letters to MSNBC about "The Rest of the Story".

 

Bryan

[keelec]

"The policy is ‘secure borders, open doors,’"

 

Janice L. Jacobs, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for consular affairs

 

I am sure glad that we have some government officials that are in touch with reality!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Washington will require that every passport issued by the governments of 27 visa-waiver countries—many in Europe—have a machine-readable chip containing the owner's digital photo. These "biometric" passports capture a person's physical features such as fingerprints, facial features or eye patterns for identification. The State Department’s Jacobs anticipates that several countries won’t meet the deadline to issue the passports—

 

So, this is what machine readable passports is.

 

How close is the USA to doing this?

I know that my passport is only 2 years old, and it doesn't have this. Perhaps we will force the other countries to be leaders!!!!!

 

Of course, we have been doing machine readable dog identification for at least a decade...... Just never applied it to people!!!!!!

 

Now, just think, our passports are valid for 7 years. EVERY PASSPORT WILL HAVE TO BE RENEWED.

 

I must admit that my passport gets squished a bit since I try to carry it with me 100% of the time when I am out of the country. I hope the chips are durable.

 

-----------------------------------------

 

Overall this was an interesting article. While they didn't talk about K1-K4 and V1-V4 visas, they did discuss the frustrations of inviting relatives to come only to have the visas denied (while the USA keeps the application fees).

 

The economic twist on the story was interesting......

 

Of course, with economics, we are "small potatoes"..... However, if you consider the 10,000 or so K1-K4 visa applicants in Russia, China, and Ukraine. We each probably send about $2000-$5,000 out of the country because of the delay. That is $20,000,000 - $50,000,000 of money leaving the US Economy because of the 1+ year delays for visas.

 

Of course, they also talk about the $1000 for an "expedited" visa. There is no mention that some people do not choose it, not because they don't want it, but because it is not available to all applicants.

 

Anyway, overall it was a very interesting article. Thanks for posting it.

 

----- Clifford -----

[JerryL]

"The policy is ‘secure borders, open doors,’"

 

Janice L. Jacobs, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for consular affairs

 

I am sure glad that we have some government officials that are in touch with reality!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, no kidding. They make it such a pain to go through the immigration process legally and then ignore the illegal immigration problem. The motto should be

 

"Open borders, secure doors."

 

Jerry

[skibum]

Jerry, I like that motto.

 

Aren't our passports machine readable to a certain extent? I know mine always gets swiped through a reader here and abroad.

 

I wonder how many Americans before 9/11 thought that our government was checking visa entries against exits. Seems like our government never does what it should until it has to. The same will be true of illegal aliens after the first Al Qada (sp?) comes up from Mexico.

 

Did you read the story about the illegal alien that had a job delivering military hardware to a NG base in Me? Or the illegal that got in the Army because they did not know his papers were fake? And now they are putting him on the fast track to citizenship.

 

I bet China knows if someone over stays.

[keelec]

Yes,

 

They enter (or swipe) the US passports now.

 

However, I think that article was saying that the USA will be requiring foreign countries to put smart chips into the passports with digital fingerprints & etc. However, as far as I know, the USA hasn't even started doing that..... I guess we don't have to comply with our own regulations.

 

--------------------

 

I think Russia actually knows if a person checks into the wrong hotel or gets on the wrong train !!!!!!!

 

And, not registering your passport EVERYWHERE one goes is not good.

 

----- Clifford -----

[Eva]

The State Department's foreign policy to eliminate the illegitimate flow of foreign nationals is a joke. The policy "SECURE BORDER, OPEN DOOR" is a greater joke. What about our home turf? There are thousands of miles of unsecure coastline to the East and West, and thousands of miles unchecked border to the south. Every minutes, everyday, there are illegals crossing our border un-opposed, while our government expends millions in manpower and resouces on foreign land to stem/delay the legitimate flow of people and goods. It is pitiful.

[se_lang]

I found this, It is a little dated.

 

US postpones deadline for machine readable passports

 

 

 

29.9.2003

 

 

The US has extended until October 26, 2004 deadline by which visitors from 21 countries (including the UK) must present a machine-readable passport ("MRP") to visit the US under the Visa Waiver Program. The MRP requirement was set to be implemented on October 1, 2003 but was proving problematic for many countries which have not yet fully converted to issuing MRPs.

 

 

 

The following 21 Countries have been granted a postponement of the machine-readable passport requirement for travel to the US under the Visa Waiver Program:

 

Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Monaco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom

 

Citizens of Belgium continue to be required to present an MRP for visa-waiver entry. This requirement went into effect for Belgium on May 15, 2003.

 

 

 

Andorra, Brunei, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Slovenia did not request a postponement of the effective date because virtually all passports issued to their citizens are MRP's. Citizens of these countries without an MRP must apply for a visa to visit the US from October 1, 2003.

 

As of October 26, 2004 any visitor to the US travelling under the Visa Waiver Program without an MRP will be required to obtain a visitor's visa before travelling. Children included on a parent's passport, whether machine-readable or not, will be required to have their own MRP or apply for a visitor's visa in their parent's passport.

 

MRP's are identifiable by the two lines of text printed on the biographical data/photo page of a passport indicating the holder's name, date of birth, nationality and passport number. The International Civil Aviation Organization has set the global standards for machine-readable travel documents. US Authorities believe that MRP's enhance security as they can be scanned at entry and exit points to verify the integrity of the passport data and their use will permit faster processing at ports of entry into the US.

[keelec]

The State Department's foreign policy to eliminate the illegitimate flow of foreign nationals is a joke.  The policy  "SECURE BORDER, OPEN DOOR" is a greater joke.  What about our home turf?  There are thousands of miles of unsecure coastline to the East and West, and thousands of miles unchecked border to the south.  Every minutes, everyday, there are illegals crossing our border un-opposed, while our government expends millions in manpower and resouces on foreign land to stem/delay the legitimate flow of people and goods.  It is pitiful.

Wonderful Idea......

 

The East Germans fixed this problem..... They walled in half of a City. Tall fences, electrified wire and, barbed wire on top, pillboxes with armed guards every few hundred yards.... Orders to shoot anyone within 100 ft of the fence..... Shoot first, ask questions later was the motto.

 

The USA has the resources to do this with the entire country!!! We could just wall ourselves in and not have to deal with the outside world any more.

 

Oceans..... Well, we would have to sacrifice some of the views of the seascape, but this could be made up with a closed circuit TV of what is happening on the other side of the wall..... Stack up a few big 42" TVs, and it would be as good as being there.

 

We would have to wall in Hawaii too. PLUG ALL OF THE HOLES. Hotels could just put in wall-sized closed circuit TV’s in, perhaps add a fan, and one could get the whole effect of the surf from the hotel room.

 

Just think of the benefits in California alone…. No more houses sliding into the Ocean, just put in a 300 ft concrete reinforced wall along the seashore which could serve as both a retaining wall and a security fence.

 

Heck, for those hard-core people, we could even build a simulated surf in Arizona.

 

Of course, the benefits of good National Security is worth a few sacrifices.

 

--------

 

Oddly enough, the wall around West Berlin wasn’t built to hold out the tyranny of the West…. East Germans were willing to risk their lives to run the gauntlet to freedom. Although many East Germans perished, some even made it across 100 yards of no-man’s land, and over or through the high fences to FREEDOM.

[skibum]

What needs to happen is for our Congress to suck up their guts and pass a good guest worker program without amnesty. Ah...I know it is beyond their capablity just like getting us Canadian prices on medicine.